Top 10 films of the year — from two perspectives

Summing up a year’s worth of movies can
be tricky. Top 10 lists often yield more questions than answers. The
subjective nature of the endeavor inevitably reveals personal interests,
quirks and prejudices, all of which can be either intriguing or
infuriating depending on whether you agree with a given compiler’s
cinematic worldview.

Beasts of the Southern Wild, the
savage visual poem from debut director Benh Zeitlin (which he co-wrote
with playwright Lucy Alibar), takes us on an adventure from its opening
frame, yet what makes it so special and downright impossible to imagine
in any other form, is Hushpuppy’s voice.

The visions are as fresh as the day they
entered my impressionable head. As a child weaned at the entertaining
teat of 1980s blockbusters like Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, Ghostbusters and Back to the Future, I have a soft spot in my movie-snob heart for a good summer popcorn movie.